Autism Language Program

Procedural Knowledge

Procedural Knowledge is an evaluation process that we use to determine how a child is processing and understanding the environment in which they live. We gather information about a child's view of the world in which they live through a detailed interview based on the Procedural Knowledge Profile (PKP), developed in our center. We are no longer surprised by the skills that children have mastered, despite having autism and the coexisting severe language disorder.

It is not unusual for a family to tell us about how effortlessly their child can operate the television remote or understands the steps involved to operate complex appliances. These children learn these skills by observing, and then translating them to make sense of their world. In the ALP, we consider this part of the knowledge they gain in the world that does not require language to master these skills.

In gathering information about their procedural knowledge, we explore how this information was acquired and if the knowledge was:

• learned through instruction
• learned independently through observation

With this information, we then begin to map their language onto physical skills, and improve the likelihood that they will learn the language associated with the skills they have mastered.